Video: Homophobic street preacher arrested in London
A Christian street preacher has been arrested in south-west London and questioned about his beliefs after saying that “fornication” and homosexuality are a sin.
Tony Miano, a US street preacher, was arrested in Wimbledon on Monday afternoon after a woman complained that the sermon he preached was homophobic.
Mr Miano, in a video placed on Youtube, can be heard listing homosexuality alongside other “evil” sexual temptations as being against “God’s law”.
“My friends, the reality is, we are all going to stand before God to give account for our lives”, he said.
“And whether our sin is sexual in nature or not, if we have violated his law in any way – whether it is homosexuality, whether it is refusing to abstain from evil in the heterosexual community and we are lusting after people we are indulging in fornication, but even beyond that if we have so much as told one lie – God sees us as a violator of his law, God does not see us as good.”
He was arrested by two Metropolitan Police officers under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, recently amended by the House of Lords, which bans “insulting” words or behaviour.
In the video, Mr Miano can be seen debating with the two officers about whether the amendment to the law had come into force yet.
He said that during his time at the police station he was questioned about his beliefs.
“He asked me, among other things, whether I believed homosexuality was a sin,” he explained.
“He also asked me: “If a homosexual person came to you and was hungry, would you give him something to eat?”
“It was unnerving to be questioned about my Christian beliefs and I was made to feel that my thoughts could be held against me.
“The two final questions were: ‘Do you believe you are 100 per cent right in what you did today?’, I answered yes, and “If you were to go back there tomorrow, would you do the same thing again?” to which I also answered yes.”
He was eventually released without charge around midnight.
